C.] PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 413 



at the present day. This diminution in the amount of the article offered 

 has not, however, increased the price ; as other articles, composed of silk, 

 wool, or cotton, are substituted for furs, with advantage, both as to com- 

 fort and cheapness. 



For particulars with regard to the manner in which the fur trade of the 

 northern parts of America is conducted, see the accounts of the Russian 

 American Company's establishments and system, in the Geographical 

 Sketch, and in chap. xii. of the History, and the view of the Hudson's 

 Bay Company's proceedings, in chap, xviii. Respecting the furs them- 

 selves, minute information may be derived from an article on the subject 

 by Mr. Aiken, in the Transactions of the Society for the Encouragement 

 of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, published at London in 1830, as 

 also from a similar article, by Professor Silliman, in the American Jour- 

 nal of Science and Art for April, 1834, and from the article on furs in 

 McCulloch's Dictionary of Commerce. 



c. 



Correspondence between the Spanish Commandant and Com- 

 missioner at Nootka Sound and the Masters of the 

 American trading Vessels Columbia and Hope, respecting 

 the Occurrences at that Place in the Summer of 1789.* 



Translation of the Letter from the Spanish Commandant to Captains 

 Robert Gray and Joseph Ingraham. 



Nootka, August 2d, 1792. 



i In order to satisfy the court of England, as is just, for the injury, dam- 

 ages, and usurpation, which it conceives itself to have sustained at this 

 port, in the year 1789, I have to request of you, gentlemen, the favor to 

 inform me, with that sincerity which distinguishes you, and which is 

 conformable with truth and honor, for what reason Don Esteban Jose 

 Martinez seized the vessels of Colnett, [called] the Iphigenia and the 

 North-West America? What establishment or building had Mr. Meares 

 on the arrival of the Spaniards? What territories are those which he 

 says that he purchased from Maquinna, Yuquiniarri, or other chief of 

 these tribes 1 With what objects were the crew of the North- West 

 America transferred to the Columbia, and ninety-six skins placed on 

 board that ship? Finally, what was the whole amount of skins carried 

 by you to China, and to whom did they belong? 



Your most obedient and assured servant, 



Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra. 



* The letter of Gray and Ingraham is copied from Ingraham 's Journal of his voyage 

 in the Hope, preserved, in manuscript, in the library of the Department of State at 

 Washington. The translation of Quadra's letter is made from the original in 

 Spanish, which is attached by a wafer to the journal. A synopsis of the letter of 

 Gray and Ingraham, which is, in every respect, incorrect, may be found in Vancou- 

 ver's Journal, vol. i. p. 389. See p. 242 of this History. 



